Uaw Delays Picking Target

Reporting progress in preliminary talks with the Big Three, leaders of the United Auto Workers on Thursday put off naming the automaker the union will target in its final push for new contracts for 385,000 members.

UAW President Stephen P. Yokich said it made no sense now to focus on one company when negotiations were progressing with all three.

“It’s good, common, honest sense,” Yokich told a news conference. “If you’ve got three companies that are moving along in their negotiations, (and) these three companies want to reach an agreement, you don’t stop them.”

The UAW’s strategy appears aimed at pressuring General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp. to be more accommodating as they vie to become the target.

“There’s an unusual jockeying among the Big Three to be the lead company,” said Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California-Berkeley. “That works to the union’s advantage. Steve Yokich has decided to let that jockeying go on a bit longer.”

Several union officials said they were told a decision would be made by Monday, but Yokich declined to confirm that.

“It could happen Sunday. It could happen next week, I don’t know,” Yokich said. Later he suggested it was possible no target would be named if each of the Big Three showed a willingness to settle.